Southern Illinois News

Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), who is challenging Gov. J.B. Pritzker for the Governor's mansion, called out Pritzker's inability to increase job growth in the region.

“The Carbondale-Marion area has lost 1,663 jobs in the four years J.B. Pritzker has been in office," Bailey said. "To put this number in perspective, 1663 people losing their jobs is the equivalent of about 10.5 percent of the entire population of Marion. Regions like the southern region of the state cannot afford any kind of significant job loss and yet job and population loss are what the JB Pritzker Administration has brought to Southern Illinois. It is no wonder JB Pritzker rarely visits the southern part of the state.”

Carbondale-Marion's employment numbers decreased by 2.9% (from 57,715 to 56,052, a difference of 1,663). The latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate employment declines across Illinois from January 2019 to June 2022. Kankakee had the largest decline in employment at 6.4% (from 52,830 to 49,431, a difference of 3,399) and Rockford comes in second with a 6.2% decline in employment numbers (from 158,466 to 148,575, a difference of 9,891). Decatur like Rockford, dropped by 6.2% (from 46,492 to 43,628, a difference of 2,864), Danville's rate declined by 5.3% (from 31,359 to 29,684, a difference of 1,675), Peoria's decreased by 4.5% (from 168,268 to 160,778, a difference of 7,490), Davenport-Moline-Rock Island's decreased by 2.4% (from 186,409 to 181,871, a difference of 4,538), Chicago-Naperville-Elgin's employment rate dropped by 1.7% bringing 81,556 lost jobs (from 4,788,931 to 4,707,375). Springfield recorded a 1.5% employment drop (from 102,108 to 100,529, a difference of 1,579), and Bloomington's rate dropped by 1.2% (from 92,184 to 91,105, a difference of 1,079). Champaign-Urbana was the only area in the state that had an increase in employment numbers but with only 0.2% growth (from 118,669 to 118,888, a difference of 219). 

Bailey has also recently slammed Pritzker for enacting regulations regarding temporary workers such as babysitters and caregivers. 

“The last thing we need in Illinois is more red tape, more rules and more regulations," Bailey said, Prairie State Wire reported. "If we want to grow our economy and be a leader for jobs and opportunities in the Midwest, we need to prioritize policies that will create jobs, not jeopardize the ones we have. Pritzker’s priorities are misguided. Silly bureaucratic rules won’t grow our economy. Families are wondering how to afford to gas up their cars and purchase basic household necessities and the focus of the Pritzker administration is making sure people fill out time sheets for their nannies? It is no wonder we are losing jobs and opportunities here in Illinois.” 

Many companies have moved their corporate headquarters outside of the state. Boeing, the most well-known producer of aircraft, announced that it would leave the region beginning in May, NBC 5 Chicago reported. In 2001, the aerospace giant, which originated in Washington, moved to Chicago. The COVID outbreak caused an employment drop of about 16,000, or more than 10% of the workforce of the organization.

On June 14, Caterpillar announced that Irving, Texas, would become the new location of its corporate headquarters, according to the Chicago Tribune. Caterpillar's chairman and CEO, Jim Umpleby, said that the decision was made with the company's "strategic interest" in mind. Caterpillar claimed that the 230 employees in the headquarters' office would not be impacted.

Citadel Securities said its move to Miami from Chicago was based on security concerns. 

“The firms are having difficulty recruiting top talent from across the world to Chicago given the rising and senseless violence in the city,” Zia Ahmed, a Citadel spokesman, told The New York Times. “Talent wants to live in cities where they feel safe.”